Daily Soundtrack: If the Shoes Fit

A study released yesterday by a company called Mindset Media found that people who buy more than three pairs of sneakers a year are sixty-one per cent more likely to have the qualities of a modern leader. Buyers of multiple pairs were fifty per cent more likely to be assertive and forty-seven per cent more likely to be spontaneous. “It is often said you can tell a lot about a person by the shoes they wear, and now we have some hard data to back that up,” Lauren Arvonio, a spokesperson for Mindset Media, told Reuters. “What is interesting is that these personality traits held true across the board, regardless of age, income, or gender.”

What is also interesting, of course, is that the study tells us nothing. Sneaker buying could be the result of ad campaigns that appeal to people who perceive (or later describe) themselves as assertive. And forty-seven per cent more likely to be spontaneous? Wouldn’t anyone who buys three of anything in a year be more likely to be spontaneous? Not answered by the survey is the question of how many sneaker buyers have seen the 2005 documentary “Just for Kicks,” which scrutinized the twenty-billion-dollar sneaker industry and its connections to youth culture, hip-hop, and more. Below is an excerpt from the film, concerning Run-D.M.C.’s famed preference for the Adidas brand, and the marketing that followed.—Ben Greenman

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